


Running From Fate

by messingaround



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Clairvoyant, Fighting, Flirting, Hunters, Minor Character Death, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Sibling Rivalry, Sickness, Telepath, Vampires, Werewolves, monster children, more tags to be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2018-12-19 11:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11896485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/messingaround/pseuds/messingaround
Summary: Dean and Sam Winchester run an orphanage for monster children. Raphael wants to rule Heaven. Castiel doesn't understand humans and Michael is just trying his best to keep Earth safe.





	1. Myth and Fact

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Everyone!  
> If you have read stories of mine before than welcome back and if this is the first time you've read anything of mine then hello welcome and I hope you enjoy the journey here! I wasn't planning on posting the story this early I wanted to have more chapters done before posting but I'm just so excited that I just can't push it back any more. I don't like having a super long beginning note so get to reading and check out the end notes my loves!!  
> Love,  
> Mess

   Every hunter knows the story of the Winchester’s. When the brothers were young children their mother was killed by a demon. John Winchester, their father, was so overcome with grief that he sought out revenge on the demon responsible for killing his beloved wife. John Winchester became a hunter and left fatherhood behind, he raised his boys on the road and taught them to be soldiers. That’s the most that anyone can agree on. Some people say that once John died Dean lost his mind and Sam put him in a mental institute then went off to live in Canada. Some say that Sam grew up to hate his father and brother so he moved away and Dean continued to hunt until one hunt went wrong. Others say that all the Winchesters were killed by the same demon that killed Mary Winchester. The only thing everyone can agree on is that the Winchester brothers are a myth.

  Like every good myth though, there’s some truth behind it. The truth of the Winchester brother’s is that their mother Mary was killed by a demon and their father was overcome by grief and became a hunter. The Winchester brothers were raised on the road moving from motel to motel and taught to be soldiers. When Sam turned eighteen he went to college in hopes of becoming a lawyer and Dean continued to hunt by himself. The brothers went three years without seeing each other. It wasn’t until John Winchester was killed by a hunter he crossed that the brother’s saw each other again. That was when the brother’s came up with the idea to start an orphanage for children of hunter’s who have died and monster children that need a real chance at life.

   For fifteen successful years Dean and Sam Winchester have been running Mary’s Second Chance Orphanage. Of course there are hunters that know the Winchester’s a real but there’s not many. In total there’s about eight hunters that know the Winchesters are real, know what they do and know where they live. The brother’s don’t want more people to know about them though because they want to stay safe and the best way to stay safe is to stay a secret. If they were hunters they wouldn’t keep themselves hidden but they raise ‘monster’ children and a lot of people won’t support that and they can’t put innocent kids at risk

    Mary’s Second Chance Orphanage is located in the middle of nowhere in Arizona, the closest town is an hour away. The house started as an abandoned rundown shack and is now a 5 story mismatch mansion. There’s a clear outline of where the original house started and where they started adding onto the house. Honestly the house looks like the Mad Hatter designed it. The outside of the house is painted a million different colors, there’s murals and graffiti as well. The inside of the house is crazy, there’s stairs that lead to nowhere and secret passageways. Dean did most of the construction, while he built and fixed up the shack Sam got a degree in Child Development and Psychology.

   When they first opened there was never more than two kids with them at a time and even then there was they were used more as a foster home than an orphanage. Not that they cared, even now sometimes they are just a stopping point. The only thing that the Winchester’s want is to help children that need it, Dean worries what is going to happen when his brother and himself can’t run the orphanage anymore because he doesn’t know who would take it over.

~~~~~~~~

  The archangels Michael and Raphael look down at the Winchester brothers and watch them. Raphael scowls at the brother’s. The third archangel can’t believe they let something like this happen. Dean and Sam Winchester have strayed from their destined path and no one cares.

   “Don’t you think we should do something? Send an angel to get them back on track.”

 “For the last time no. The Winchester’s straying from their path isn’t the worst thing.”

    “But that means that what God wrote and destined isn’t going to happen, it was supposed to happen years ago anyway.”

  “I don’t consider it a tragedy that the apocalypse hasn’t and probably won’t happen.”

     “But-“

   “Enough, Raphael. You are not in charge so it is not your decision. We are going to let the Winchester’s be.” Michael waves a hand at the brother’s running the silly orphanage before walking away.

     Raphael scowls at his brothers retreating back then looks back at the Winchester’s. If only Dean Winchester had stayed a hunter than Raphael would be the one in charge of Heaven because Michael would be gone. He should be the one running Heaven, God wrote it which proves that he is better fit to run it and be in charge of the angels.

   If God wrote that Raphael should run Heaven then who is Raphael to argue that. Maybe he just has to give a little push to put everything in motion, then he can have what is rightfully his.

~~~~~~~~

    Like every other morning Dean gets up at four, there’s no babies in the house so he doesn’t have to check any diapers. He goes downstairs to the kitchen and puts on a pot of coffee. Dean can hear Sam walking around upstairs, his brother is getting ready to work in the greenhouses until six. He makes some scrambled eggs and toast, something simple because once it’s time to make breakfast for all the kids they will be hungry again.

   Sam comes downstairs in his overalls and work boots, Dean doesn’t understand his brothers fashion sense but it’s hilarious so he doesn’t care. The two are silent until they both down two cups of coffee.

    “Things have been a little quite lately, that’s not usually good.” Sam stuffs half a piece of toast in his mouth.

   “It’s a little early to be a downer, Sam.”

      “I’m just saying, whenever things get really quite around here it doesn’t end well.”

    “Don’t you have some dirt to play with?”

        Sam rolls his eyes but puts his dishes in the sink then goes out the back door. Dean does the dishes then starts on all the other chores he has to get done. He does laundry, cleans the bathrooms, mops and vacuums. There’s a couple of things that he leaves for the kids to do but the most import things he gets done. He’s just about to start making French toast when it happens, because Sam has to be a goddamn know it all. Rudy pushes the door open and barrels into the house the hunter is covered in mud and blood which is never a good thing.

    “Rudy what’s going on?” Dean balances the hunter that looks like he is about to pass out.

  “Vampire nest, young new hunters, th-they didn’t want to listen. Kids, man, they’re hurt. In the car.” Rudy passes out.

  Dean flops his friend onto the couch and runs out to the old pick up. There’s three kids in the back all of them look to be in just as bad shape as Rudy. The youngest one looks to be about two and the other two seem to be twelve and sixteen.

     “SAM!” Dean screams and gently picks up the toddler.

  He looks over his shoulder to see Bentley running out of the house, the fifteen year old telepath skids to stop and looks into the back. Bentley pales slightly but he puffs out his chest and holds his hands out to take the toddler from Dean. Sam runs up as Bentley carries the young vampire into the house. Dean picks up the twelve year old and Sam carries the oldest one. They go the infirmary where Bentley already is.

   “What do I do? I want to help.”

 “Go make sure everyone wakes up and eats breakfast.”

    “But-“

  “Bentley that’s what I need you to do right now, okay?” Dean looks over at the blue eyed boy, he knows that Bentley wants to help fix up the vampires but that’s not an option right now.

   “Okay.” Bentley nods and jogs out of the infirmary.

  “I’ll go get Rudy. That’s not really a sight Billie needs to see.” Sam runs behind Bentley.

    Dean nods and starts setting up IVs. Once they all have an IV he cuts their shirts and pants off to make sure that none of them have any deeps wounds. The oldest needs a couple of stitches she was clearly trying to protect the two younger ones. Sam comes back with Rudy slung over his shoulder as Dean is finishing up the last stitch on the oldest ones rib area. The twelve year old has some cuts that need to be cleaned out and bandaged up but other than that he seems fine for now. The toddler has some bruises but other than that she’s fine.

   Rudy is in really rough shape. He needs and IV, stitches and has bruised ribs. Once the brothers, mostly Dean, have done everything they can for the four injured they wash up and find everyone in the kitchen. Bentley and Alaska made banana blueberry pancakes and bacon.

  Trip, a ten year old vampire, looks up from his food. “What are they?”

    “Rudy said vampires. They’re going to be okay though.” Dean tells the dark eyed boy.

  Trip nods and pushes around his syrup soggy pancakes. The room becomes silent as the kids start eating again. Until thirty minutes ago there were only six kids in the house, which has been odd because the only other time there have been so few kids in the house was when they first opened. For the first year there was never more than three kids in the house at a time and one of those kids was always Bentley. When Bentley was three months old his parents died in a car crash, Dean knew his aunt and she said she didn’t want anything to do with the baby because she didn’t get along with his parents and thought that Bentley was going to turn out ‘weird’ like her sister. Dean got her to sign over her parental guardianship to Dean because she was just going to put him into foster care anyway. Bentley’s aunt was a real bitch honestly and the only reason Dean knew her was through a friend. She refused to give Dean anything that Bentley’s parents had for him and refused to tell Dean what Bentley’s parents named him so Dean named him.

   Alaska is also fifteen but she came to them when she was eight, her mom, Marie, was a hunter and was killed by a banshee. Bobby knew her mom and said the dad was never in the picture and the only one who knew her father was, was Marie. So Bobby brought Alaska to Mary’s Second Chance.

  Then there’s Wyatt who came to them as Eloise. Wyatt is a shapeshifter and was saved by Rudy when he was two. Even though Wyatt was technically born as a female he was never meant to be one. Like all shapeshifters Wyatt was abandoned by his parents because of how he looked, he went through the system until Charlie found him. The only thing is that shapeshifters can only like other people, Wyatt looks like a young version of a hunter that is long dead. It was startling the when Wyatt first shifted into him but now it’s what they are used to.

   The last boy in the house is Tristen but everyone calls him Trip. He is a ten year old vampire that came to them when he was three. His parents were on the run because they were being tracked down by hunters, they heard about Mary’s Second Chance and dropped Trip off to keep him safe. Seven years later they haven’t showed back up, the only thing they can assume is that they are dead. Dean and Sam have hunters keeping their eyes out to see if they can find them but so far nothing.

   There’s two other girls in the house. Billie, a five year old werewolf who is named after the hunter that saved her. William used to come by to visit Billie all the time but he went into a hunt against demons and didn’t make it. The last is Lavender who just showed up on their doorstep three years ago. She’s a clairvoyant and was mute when she first showed up, whenever they would ask her what her name was she would just shake her head. Sam called her Lavender and she seemed to like so that’s her name.

   The silence is broken by a shrill scream that’s coming from the infirmary. Dean and Trip run to the infirmary. The oldest vampire ripped her IV out and is looking over her siblings. When she notices Dean, she hunches forward and protectively splays her arms out while baring her sharp teeth. Dean holds up his hands in surrender as Trip steps in front of him and shows his own sharp teeth. The girl is taken aback and closes her mouth but doesn’t let her defenses down.

   “Who are you? Where are we? What happened?”

  “I’m Trip and this is Dean. You’re in Arizona because your nest was attacked.”

     The girl blinks a couple of times as she takes in everything that was just said to her and remembers what happened. She looks around the room all while staying tense.

   “He saved us.” She points to Rudy who is still passed out.

      “That’s Rudy.”

      “My nest is gone. My family was killed by hunters. There were so many of them and they came in with machetes and blow torches. They didn’t care.” Her eyes fall downwards.

    “I know this is hard but you’re safe now. You and your siblings are going to be okay.”

  “You trust him?” The girl asks Trip and motions towards Dean.

      “Do I trust Dean? Yeah, he’s the best. I’m ten now but my parents dropped me off here when I was three. They were being tracked down by hunters and wanted me to stay safe and alive. Dean and Sam are my family, if it wasn’t for them then I would be dead along with a bunch of other innocent monsters.”

    “You’re a human?” She asks Dean.

        “Yes I am. “

   “What’s your name?” Trip questions.

       “Sage. He’s Phoenix and she is Opal.” She motions to her siblings.

    “Are you hungry?” Trip asks.

        Sage nods. Trip runs off to get her something. Dean stands in the doorway and leans against the frame.

     “You can sit down if you want. I’m not going to move from right here. You and you’re siblings are okay.”

       Sage relaxes slightly and pulls a chair over so that she is sitting between her brother and sister. Trip comes back with a tray that has a sandwich on it and four glasses of blood.

     “I don’t know what type of blood you normally drink so I just brought you a bunch of different kinds. There’s rabbit, cow, horse and pig. If you normally drink human blood than I recommend going with the cow or pig. I’ve never drank human blood but we’ve had a couple of vampires here that used to drink human blood and switching to a different kind can sometimes upset your stomach but it seems cow and pig upset vampires stomach less if they are switching.” Trip takes a deep breath and holds the tray out to her.

   “My nest never drank human blood. We aren’t heathens. Cow and horse are fine, thank you.” Sage takes the tray from Trip and settles it on her lap.

     Dean shakes his head. The nest wasn’t even killing humans and the hunters still attacked them.

  “Once Phoenix and Opal are awake I can give you guys a tour of the house and you can pick which bedroom you want. We have a bunch of empty ones right now which is weird because as long as I‘ve been here, which is seven years, there’s always like a million people living here-“

     “Trip-“

  “That’s an exaggeration. There’s usually always at least like twenty people here. I exaggerate sometimes, mostly when I’m excited but Dean says I shouldn’t because some people think exaggerating is lying. The house is really cool though, you’ll like it.” Trip takes another deep breath, the kid can talk a mile a minute and will. Dean has seen Trip pass out because of how fast he was talking and not breathing.

    “I’m going to let you two be, if you need anything I’ll be around.” Dean leaves as Trip is telling Sage about everyone else in the house.

  Dean goes out to the greenhouses, Sam went back out to continue gardening. Sam looks up from his tomatoes as the greenhouse door closes behind Dean.

    “Their nest didn’t even hunt humans. They drank animal blood.” Dean tries to contain his rage.

  Sam shakes his head. “Not everyone sees it like us.”

     “I know and it’s bullshit. Those kids in there lost their parents for no fucking reason and if it wasn’t for Rudy they would be dead too!”

   Sam glances up from his peas then looks back down. Dean rolls his eyes and leaves. Hunter’s being idiots and not realizing that being a monster doesn’t automatically make something evil is the whole reason they started Mary’s Second Chance but knowing that doesn’t make seeing kids have to go through heartache any easier.

~~~~~~~~

  A knock on the door draws Raphael’s attention away from his plans. He shoves the parchment into a desk drawer and calls out for the angel to come in. Castiel walks in, Raphael can feel the nervousness flowing off of the young angel.

    “There’s no reason to be so nervous Castiel.” Raphael stands and motions for his brother to take a seat.

   “It’s not every day that an archangel wants to speak to an angel of my ranking.” Castiel explains his nerves as he takes a seat.

     “I have a mission, Castiel and I can’t trust just anyone with it.”

   “You trust me with it?”

      “You are the most determined and well-mannered angel. Don’t you agree?”

   “Well, I guess I am.” Castiel shrugs.

     “You are and you take orders and listen to your commanding angel. For an angel so young Castiel you truly are one of the best ones. You’re ranking should be higher and once you complete this mission it will be.” Raphael smirks behind Castiel’s back, he knows exactly how to stroke an angel’s ego.

    “What’s the mission?”

      Raphael smiles. “Come with me.”

   The archangel leads Castiel to where they can see the Winchesters.

     “Do you see that human right there?” Raphael points at Dean Winchester who is helping a child onto a horse.

    “Yes.”

  “That’s Dean Winchester and he has strayed from his destined path. You are to go down there and get him and his brother to start hunting again, but as long as you get Dean to start hunting again Sam Winchester will follow.”

    “How do I get them to trust me?”

  “You will say that you knew Bobby Singer. I will give you an entire briefing before sending you out, but that of course is only if you agree to do the mission.” He side eyes the angel.

    “Of course I’ll do the mission. I’m honored.”

  “Great,” Raphael claps Castiel on the shoulder, “come with me and you’re going to learn all about the history of the Winchester’s.”

     After a week straight of Raphael telling Castiel everything he needs to know about the Winchester brother’s and how to succeed at the mission the archangel is confident to send the youngest angel into the field. Not once did Castiel ask about Michael and if this mission has been approved because the angel trusts Raphael.

   “Report back to be in exactly three days.”

 Castiel nods before turning around and leaving Heaven. Raphael smirks and flies back to his office. So far the plan is going one hundred percent smoothly. He is going to keep Castiel in the field for a couple of weeks before starting the second part of his plan. Raphael hasn’t felt this good about something in centuries.

~~~~~~~~

   “Someone’s coming.” Lavender says while staring at the television.

 “Is it possible for you to not be creepy for one day Lavender?” Bentley rolls his eyes.

    “He’s here.” The eight year old responds as someone knocks on the door.

  Dean gets up and picks up a bat on the way from the living room to the front door. He opens it a crack to see a man in a trench coat standing there with a backpack slung over his shoulder.

    “Who the hell are you?”

 “I’m Castiel Novak.”

     “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

  “I’m a hunter I knew Bobby Singer –“

      “And he told you about us?”

   “No, Garth did. We went drinking a few nights ago to honor him and he doesn’t know his limit as much as he thinks he does.”

      Dean raises an eyebrow, Garth would only open up to someone like that if he one hundred percent trusts the person. Still he’s going to have to check with Garth.

    “Still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

       “I’m here because I want to take a break from hunting but not from helping people. I was wondering if maybe I could stay here for a while.”

   “I don’t even know you and you have the balls to stand here and ask me to trust you?” Dean opens the door completely and steps out onto the porch then closes the door behind him, still holding the bat.

      “No, I’m asking you to give me chance. I’ll prove my loyalty.”

   “Give you a chance? I have kids in there, innocent kids. Most whose lives have been ruined by hunters-“

     “You were a hunter and so was Sam. Garth and Bobby. All dedicated to making sure monster children are given a real chance at life. I get it though, you can’t put them at risk. This was pointless anyway,” Castiel turns and walks down the stairs, “really wish I knew about this place before though, a lot of kids would probably still be alive.”

     “Wait… Wait here, let me just give someone a call.” Dean glances at Castiel before going back inside to call Garth.

   “Who is that?” Trip asks in his forever loud voice.

      “Stop looking out the window, it’s rude to spy on people.” Dean goes to the kitchen where the landline is and calls Garth.

   “Detective MacGyver, how can I help you?”

       “It’s Dean.”

    “Oh hey Dean! What’s up man?” Garth’s tone completely changes.

       “Does the name Castiel mean anything to you?”

    “Oh yeah! Castiel, great dude. Why do you ask?”

        “He’s on my doorstep.”

    “No way, tell him I said hi.”

       “So you trust him?” Dean leans forward so he can look at the front door, all the kids are still looking out the window.

    “With my life. Castiel is a great hunter but he’s lost some of his passion for it. You know how it is. I think he would be a great fit at Mary’s Second Chance.”

        Dean scratches his scruff. “Thanks Garth. I’ll talk to you soon.”

    When he walks past the living room the kids throw themselves away from the window trying to act innocent. Dean chuckles as he opens the door.

    “You’re lucky that Garth’s word holds a lot of value here. I’ll show you to a room.” He motions for the hunter to come inside.

     As the two walk past the living room the kids all stare at Castiel like they’ve never seen a hunter before. Dean shows Castiel to the fifth floor where no one is staying right now.

   “I’ll give you a house tour tomorrow, but for now it looks like you need some rest.” Dean pushes open the door to the first room.

    “Thank you for the hospitality and for not hitting me with that bat.” Castiel drops his bag on the bed and looks around the room.

   Dean smirks and raps his knuckles on the doorframe. “Word of advice, in the morning stay in here until I come to get you.”

     “Why?” Castiel raises an eyebrow.

   “Because my brother doesn’t know you’re here and he’s asleep so if he gets up before me and sees you walking around here, he’ll shoot you and I try to avoid people getting shot in this house as often as possible.”

    “Makes sense.” Castiel nods.

  “See you in the morning.” Dean closes the door behind him and goes back downstairs.

     All of the kids are standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him. Bentley and Alaska have their arms crossed over their chests.

    “Who the heck is that?” Bentley asks.

   “That is a Castiel, he’s a hunter.”

      “I’ve never seen him.” Alaska purses her lips.

   “I’ve never seen him and I’ve lived here my whole life!” Bentley shouts.

      “Do you trust me?”

   “Yes.” Both fifteen year olds mutter.

      “Then go to bed.”

   In a rushed herd all nine kids head upstairs to start their nightly routines. Dean goes to the living room and changes the channel. First Rudy rushing in with three injured vampires and now a hunter looking for shelter and a purpose. Sam was right, things never stay quite around here for long.


	2. Definitely Not a Hunter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone! So I try to update my stories every two weeks and if not then at least once a month. This update is coming a little early but I don't give a fuck and I doubt any of you do xD I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it is shorter than what I normally do but sometimes that happens. Things are just starting to get rolling in the story and trust me I have big exciting things planned. Tell me what you thought you know I love talking to y'all!   
> Love,   
> Mess

    Raphael is on his way to check the infirmary when he’s stopped by Michael. His brother looks the same way he always does, mildly annoyed and ready for an argument.

   “Do you have a minute, Raphael?” Michael asks but what he really means is, ‘you have all the minutes I need from you’.

     “Of course, Michael. Is everything okay?” Raphael folds his hands behind his back.

   “Where is Castiel?”

       Raphael makes himself not react. Not once did he think Michael would notice that the youngest angel is gone. Michael raises an eyebrow at Raphael’s silence.

    “Oh, I sent him to Earth to check on the bee population.”

        “The bee population?” Michael folds his arms over his chest.

   “Yes, Metatron informed me that the bee population has been decreasing rapidly. If the bees die off than that would be terrible for the humans so Castiel is assessing the situation.”

      Michael eyes his younger brother before nodding. “Good call but next time inform me before you send an angel into the field.”

    Raphael relaxes when his brother flies away. He turns away from the direction of the infirmary, now he has to check on the bee population.

~~~~~~~~

   “I don’t trust him.” Bentley turns the dial on his binoculars so that they can focus.

  “I like him.” Lavender says, she isn’t even looking at him she’s mediating next to Bentley as he watches Castiel through the bushes.

    “Of course you do because he’s weird like you.”

  Dean is giving Castiel a tour of the outside and inside of the house plus giving him some history. Bentley watches the ‘hunter’ examine the outside of the house. There’s something off about Castiel, he doesn’t have the same look in his eyes that hunter’s do.

    “You just don’t like change.” Lavender tilts her head back.

  “That’s not true.”

     “Yes it is. Remember when Dean changed the laundry soap we use. You complained about it for almost a month.”

    “That’s because there was no reason to change it and it smelled weird!”

  “Bentley get out of the bushes and stop spying!” Dean shouts from the front yard.

     Bentley glares at Lavender, because it’s her fault that their location was revealed, before standing up and wiping the dirt off of his clothes. He side eyes Castiel as he walks around the house and heads to the swing set. The feeling in the pit of his stomach is weird because he’s never questioned Dean before, but he knows there’s something up with Castiel he can sense it. He’s in the middle of thinking about how to get more information on Castiel when someone sits on the swing next to him. He looks over to see Alaska.

   “I know you don’t trust Castiel either.”

  “Have you been spying on him too?”

    “No. Lavender told me you were spying on him though. I was going to spy on him but then Wyatt got his foot stuck in a pot in the greenhouse so I had to help Sam get Wyatt unstuck.”

  “You have an idea though don’t you?” Bentley stands up ready to follow Alaska’s lead.

 “I do.” Alaska starts walking towards the backdoor.

   “Lead the way Al.” He gestures wildly at the back door.

  Alaska clenches her fists at the nickname but doesn’t say anything. Bentley loves the fact Alaska hates being called Al. The two are silent until they reach the fifth floor where no one is.

    “We are going to search through his things to see if he has anything weird. Basic but necessary.”

 Bentley nods and can’t believe that he didn’t think of it. Once they make it to the first door Alaska opens the door to the room Castiel is staying in. There’s only one duffel bag in the room which is weird because who only owns enough things to fit in one bag.

   “He only has one bag?” Bentley zips the bag open as Alaska closes the door.

  “That’s pretty normal for hunter’s they don’t carry around a lot of stuff.”

    “Yeah well I don’t think he’s a hunter.”

  Bentley flips the bag over so that all the contents tumble out. They start going through everything that fell onto the bed. There’s only six shirts, pants and pairs of socks and underwear. What kind of weirdo is Castiel?

    “This is weird.”

  “You’re telling me there’s not even an outfit for everyday of the week.”

     Alaska slaps the back of Bentley’s head. “There’s no journal, idiot. Every single hunter has a journal of some kind.”

   “I told you he’s not a hunter!”

      “Yeah, so Bentley has been with us since he was a baby. He’s been here the longest. He’s a great kid though.” The pair hears Dean’s voice coming towards them.

   Bentley hides behind the dresser and Alaska shuffles under the bed after stuffing everything back in the duffel bag. The door swings open and Bentley can’t see anything because the dresser is blocking him but he can hear what’s going on.

   “What’s Bentley?”

 “He’s a telepath but he hardly uses his powers.”

   “Thanks for showing me around.”

  “No problem, dude. Lunch will be served soon so come downstairs in about an hour.”

    The door closes and Bentley risks peeking his head out to see Castiel leave the room too. Alaska moves out from under the bed and Bentley moves out of his hiding place. Together they tiptoe to the door and open it slowly. The coast is clear so the rush off of the fifth floor.

   “Do you think he’s a monster?” Alaska asks as they round the corner and run into Wyatt.

  “Who are you talking about?” Wyatt turns on the puppy dog eyes.

      “No one.” Bentley and Alaska say simultaneously.

   “Lie.”

     “What?” Bentley scoffs.

  “That’s a lie. You two were obviously talking about someone. Who was it?” Wyatt crosses his arms.

     “It’s none of your business.”

   Wyatt’s intellectual response is to kick Bentley’s shin. The two boys quickly start wrestling. Alaska doesn’t try to stop them, instead she takes a seat on the couch and watches. The two are pulled apart by Dean who lifts Wyatt up and places the shapeshifter next to him. Bentley quickly stands up and wipes his hands on his jeans.

   “What’s going on?” Dean asks the two.

 “Alaska and Bentley were talking about someone and won’t tell me who.” Wyatt turns his puppy dog eyes onto Dean.

    “We weren’t talking about anyone!” Bentley glares at Wyatt, why does the shapeshifter have to be so nosy.

   “Liar!” Wyatt shouts and points at him.

       “Wyatt, for the last time Bentley and Alaska don’t have to tell you everything that they talk about.”

   Wyatt huffs and walks away unhappy with the answer that Dean gave him. The thirteen year old doesn’t like being left out of things and normally Bentley wouldn’t leave Wyatt out of something but this is an incredibly serious situation and right now the less people involved the better. Dean side eyes Bentley and Alaska before leaving the room.

     “He knows we’re up to something.” Alaska whispers.

  “Yes, but he doesn’t know what yet. So we’re okay right now.”

~~~~~~~~

     Castiel helps Dean do the dishes after lunch. He’s been trying to connect with the human all day and is starting to think that he doesn’t understand humans as much as he thought he did. He dries off the last dish and puts it on the rack, then follows Dean to the laundry room where Dean is going to show him how to properly do the laundry.

   “Do you ever miss hunting?” Castiel asks as they separate the clothes into piles.

  Dean shrugs. “Sometimes, but not very often.”

    “What do you miss about it?”

  “You know… being in the field is just different than this. I love this though, running this place and taking care of these kids. I know it’s what I’m supposed to be doing. Hunting was a good experience but it’s a sad life to live. There’s only two ways hunters stop hunting. They either die because of a hunt gone wrong or they drink themselves to death.” Dean throws a handful of white shirts in the lights pile.

    “You stopped hunting without either of those things happening.”

  “So did you.” The green eyed man looks at Castiel out of the corner of his eye.

     “I did.” Castiel throws some towels in the towel pile.

   “Do you think that you’ll go back to hunting?”

     “I don’t know yet.”

   The two are silent for a while. They continue to separate clothes into piles. Castiel overtly underestimated how much dirty clothing nine children could generate. As they finish sorting out the clothes the angel turns to Dean.

     “Why did you stop?”

  Dean braces his hands on the washing machine. “There’s a lot of reasons I stopped. I made a list at one point, you know when I was still deciding if I was going to quit or not, but the biggest reason was because the only ending I saw for myself was death in five years. I didn’t want to die without feeling like I did something important. So Mary’s Second Chance was created.”

    Castiel stays silent because he doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t understand Dean’s feelings or reasoning for anything. All he knows is that Dean isn’t on the right path no matter how much Dean thinks he is.

   “Sorry,” Dean chuckles lowly, “I know that’s a lot of bullshit to lay on a person at once, especially when you don’t know a person that well.”

    “No, it’s okay. I asked.”

  They don’t talk except for Dean telling Castiel how to do the laundry correctly. Once they are done doing the laundry Dean goes to check on the three new vampires. Castiel decides to walk around outside to check out everything again. He notices something that he didn’t before and something that Dean didn’t point out before. Castiel walks over to the grove of trees. There’s about thirty trees in a circle, it’s obvious that they were deliberately planted like that.

   “Dean didn’t explain The Grove?” Sam’s voice somewhat startles the angel.

   “Uh, no. Is it something important?”

  “Each tree is for a kid that didn’t make it out of the house. Dean started it after the first death. He doesn’t like talking about or even going near it unless it’s to add another tree, which of course we never want to happen.” Sam stands next to Castiel.

    The way that Sam stands it’s clear that he is self-conscious of his height. It makes sense that Sam wouldn’t stand up completely straight since he’s always around children and his height can definitely be intimidating.

    “Alright, well, see you around.” Sam picks up the basket of beans that he put by his feet and walks towards the house.

   Castiel heads toward The Grove. The closer that he gets to the trees the more he can feel the sorrow that surrounds them. He walks through the mini forest without touching any of them, he just looks at them and takes each one of them in. Each tree gives off a different feeling. Some have more sorrow surrounding them, others have more anger, some have apathy radiating off of them as if Dean tried to disconnect himself from the death that surrounded that tree to be planted.

    There’s one tree planted directly in the middle of the circle. Castiel reaches his left hand out and presses it firmly onto the rough bark. Instantly he sees thousands of images. He sees a hunter dropping off an incredibly young infant. The infant came to Mary’s Second Chance already sick. He watches Dean try everything he can to save the baby. Dean slept by the baby’s side for days. He sees Sam bring meals into Dean because Dean refused to leave the infirmary. The baby ended up having heart failure and there was nothing Dean or Sam could to do save the small human.

   He pulls his hand away but the feeling doesn’t leave. Castiel has never felt like this, like all of his insides have been sucked out and replaced with ice cold water. The feelings surrounding the first tree that was planted are so strong that Castiel can still feel everything Dean felt fifteen years ago. Castiel never realized that human emotions could be so strong. Castiel walks out of The Grove and thinks about everything he just saw.

   The angel stops walking when he sees a little girl standing ten feet away from The Grove, the little girl stares at Castiel with a completely calm face. He is unsettled by the little girl.

    “Are you okay?” Castiel asks as he walks closer to her.

  “Yes. I just don’t like getting too close to The Grove. The feelings are so strong, it hurts a lot. Poor Dean and Sam have gone through so much but they act like they haven’t,” the little girl looks down, “I’m Lavender by the way. I’m clairvoyant.”

    “Oh, well I’m Castiel.” He doesn’t know how to react to everything that Lavender said.

  “I know. You told Dean you’re a hunter but Bentley and Alaska don’t believe you.”

      “Really?”

   “Yeah, but they don’t trust people that much. I just think you’re weird but that’s okay because I’m weird too.”

     Castiel nods but has no idea what to say.

   The back door opens and Sam sticks his head out. “Lavender stop being so intense! Castiel doesn’t know you yet!”

    Lavender tilts her head while staring at Castiel for a couple of more seconds before turning around and going back inside. Castiel waves at Sam who does not wave back and closes the door once Lavender is inside. Castiel goes back to walking around the property. Now thinking about Dean and all the sorrow he holds for each death that has passed through this house.

~~~~~~~~

   Sam and Dean are going through their nightly rounds when Sam speaks up.

  “Do you really trust that guy Dean?” Sam makes sure all the windows in the living room are locked and all the curtains are pulled shut.

    “Castiel? Why did he do something?”

  “No… not yet anyway. It’s just that I don’t trust him. He showed up out of nowhere and we’ve literally never heard of him before.” He picks up any shoes that are lying around.

     “Garth vouched for him and I trust Garth with my life. I get where you’re coming from but it’s not like we know every single hunter that exists. I’m not saying that I trust Castiel with my life or anything but I trust him enough to stay here.” Dean dead bolts the door.

    Sam doesn’t say anything else as they move to the back door to lock everything up. He knows that Bentley and Alaska don’t trust Castiel either he doesn’t know why they don’t because he hasn’t asked them but he knows the two have been spying on the supposed hunter. It’s not that he wants Castiel to be a liar or a danger to them but he just doesn’t believe the story that he’s heard from Castiel.

    The brothers walk through the rest of the house to check on the kids and make sure everyone’s inside and asleep. Their on their way to their floor when Sam decides to speak up again.

   “I don’t think he should stay long. A month at most.”

      “Okay, Sam. You have to tell him though.” Dean closes the door to his room before he can see the glare Sam sends his way.

   Sam hopes he’s wrong about Castiel. He never wants to be right about his gut feelings that tell him something bad is going to happen or that something shifty is going on. He doesn’t get any joy out of being right in those situations, as much as Dean may think that he does.

  He sets his alarm and changes into a pair of sweatpants. The feeling in the pit of his stomach that a bad storm is brewing doesn’t go away as he lays down and tries to get a good night’s sleep.

~~~~~~~

  Bentley and Alaska are in the greenhouse helping Sam with the crops, Castiel is also trying to help. The more time Bentley spends around Castiel the more confused he is. Castiel doesn’t have great social skills and seems confused by a lot of normal things. It makes sense if Castiel has never gardened before so it’s not weird that he doesn’t know how to garden it’s the fact that it’s like he’s never even thought about how plants grow.

    Alaska has been interacting with Castiel more because she’s been helping him while Bentley has been working by himself. He can tell that Sam’s patience is wearing thin, which takes a long time to do because Sam has taught young children how to farm in the desert. Castiel picks up a watering can and starts watering a row of green beans that have already been watered. Sam grabs the watering can from Castiel’s hands and passes it over to Alaska.

     “Are you even paying attention?” Sam snaps.

   “Yes.”

       “Really? Because this is not the first time that you’ve rewatered something. You need to pay attention to what you’re doing because you can’t over water plants and you can’t waste so much water in the desert!”

    “I’m sorry-“

        “I don’t care, I don’t want to hear it! Get out of my greenhouse. I’m not letting the kids starve because you’re an idiot!” There’s nothing but pure rage in Sam’s eyes.

    Bentley can’t even remember the last time that Sam raised his voice let alone screamed at someone. It actually scared him, he looks over at Alaska to see that she’s also startled. Castiel doesn’t say anything as he leaves the greenhouse. Sam looks over at Bentley, he picks up the basket of potatoes at his feet and rushes out of the greenhouse. He’s not scared of Sam obviously but he wants to give him some space to cool down.

     He carries the basket of potatoes into the kitchen and puts them on the table. Usually he hates washing off potatoes, he’d rather be out in the greenhouse then in the house cleaning the vegetables. This time he agrees to wash them with Dean which surprises the man.

    Once Alaska and Sam are done in the greenhouses and Dean and he are done washing all the vegetables. Alaska and he go outside to see if they can find Castiel. They don’t find Castiel but instead find Trip and the three new vampires hanging out with some of the cats. Neither Bentley nor Alaska were planning on stopping to talk to them because they were on a mission but Trip yells at them.

   “Hey! Come over!” Trip is hugging Fish, the only cat okay with being hugged.

  The two make their way over to the small group. Alaska kneels and starts petting Cranberry.

     “What do you guys think of Castiel?” Trip lets Fish go and stares intently at Bentley.

   “We aren’t sure yet.” Bentley looks to Alaska who shrugs.

       “He’s an alien.” Trip says definitively

    “Trip.” Alaska sighs.

         “I’m serious! He’s definitely an alien.”

     Bentley doesn’t really believe in aliens but it does make sense if aliens were real then Castiel would definitely be one. While Bentley is contemplating what Castiel could be Alaska and Sage, the oldest new vampire, start arguing about the possibility of aliens being real.

   Bentley sees Castiel out of the corner of his eye. Everyone is still in deep conversation about the possibility of aliens existing so he sneaks off to follow Castiel. Castiel walks towards the Grove but stays about twenty feet away from it. Bentley doesn’t understand what Castiel is doing, staring at a bunch of trees like a weirdo. He stays hidden behind a wheel barrel. Three minutes goes by of Castiel just staring at the trees. Bentley gets sick of watching the nothingness that is happening right in front of him and his legs are cramping up. He stands up and marches over to the possible alien.

    “What are you doing?” Bentley questions in a harsh tone.

  “Looking.”

     “At what? They’re trees they aren’t going to run away, that’s why we don’t have a tree watcher.”

   “Dean said you’re a telepath.” Castiel doesn’t take his eyes off the trees.

       “You’re not very good at conversation. We were talking about the trees in case you forgot. You were going to explain why you’re being a weirdo and staring at them.”

      “I don’t really have a good reason to be staring at them. I figured I would start a different conversation.”

    Bentley glares at Castiel before walking away. Castiel doesn’t even know him he’s not going to ask him about being a telepath. He stomps inside and up to his room. Not only is Castiel a strange nutjob but he’s also invasive. No one knows anything about Castiel but he thinks that he deserves to know about everyone that’s in the house. He can’t wait until Castiel is gone. 


	3. Adding A Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I must say that I am proud of myself I have been on TOP of my updating, I am going to warn you though that since I'm back in school my updates might not continue to be this great. I love writing this story so much though, I'm so excited for this story. As always I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and tell me what you think!  
> Love,  
> Mess

   Everyone is sitting at the table eating breakfast when Trip sniffles. Everyone drops their silverware and covers their mouths. Castiel and the three new vampires eye everyone, confused.

     “I’m fine! I’m not sick I swear!” Trip begs Dean and Sam.

   “I’ll give you one sniffle Trip but if you sneeze it’s over.” Dean doesn’t take his eyes off Trip.

      “What is happening?” Sage speaks up.

   “Whenever anyone gets sick here it’s the actual worst thing in the world. Monsters react differently to illnesses which usually makes any sickness stay around longer so everyone usually gets sick twice. It’s like hell on earth anytime anyone gets sick so we always try to quarantine it.” Bentley speaks up from under his shirt.

     Trip sneezes into his elbow but the sound makes it clear that the sneeze was full of snot. Everyone keeps their mouths covered as Dean picks Trip up from his seat to carry him to the infirmary.

   “No! I’m not sick I swear! Save me! Saaaaveee me!” Trip dramatically reaches out as he’s carried off. 

~~~~~~~~

    The quarantine didn’t work. It never does. The flu started with Trip then traveled to Lavender from Lavender it went to Wyatt then it was a free for all. Dean can’t remember the last time he saw so much throw up. The only ones that aren’t sick are Sam, Castiel and himself as well as the animals but they never have to worry about the animals. Dean’s incredibly worried about Opal the poor toddler is struggling with the flu but he’s keeping that to himself.

     The living room has been turned into a warzone. Wyatt, Billie and Bentley have made the living room their home. There’s a full sized air mattress set up between the two couches, blankets thrown around everywhere and four buckets ready to catch any throw up. Right now Wyatt is sleeping on the couch with Hennessy their Rottweiler. Bentley is sprawled out on one couch, Tank the Chihuahua is sleeping between the telepaths legs. Billie is on the other couch with a cold rag on her head because she’s sweating up a storm.

    Since the living room is currently okay Dean heads to infirmary where all the vampires are staying. Sam is watching over Opal right now. All the vampires are sleeping at the moment and Kiwi the Great Dane is laying at Sam’s feet also making sure Opal is okay. He goes up to his own room where Lavender and Alaska have taken residence. Both girls are sleeping with their three other dogs sleeping along with them. Tobias, the blue pit, Athena, their bridle pit and lastly Maple their cattle dog.

  Dean breathes for the first time in three days. He goes down to the kitchen to start a big batch of chicken noodle soup. He’s throwing all the ingredients into the largest pot he owns when Castiel walks in.

    “So Bentley wasn’t being dramatic.” Castiel leans against the counter.

  “Sadly no.” Dean stirs everything together.

      “Is there anything I can do?”

   “Can you go watch over Opal? Sam needs to go out to the greenhouses but I want to finish this soup first. Just make sure that her breathing is even and her fever doesn’t spike at all. If anything happens at all come get me immediately.”

   “Okay.” Castiel nods and walks out to watch Opal.

  Dean gets a couple of things done while Castiel watches Opal. He finishes the soup and two loads of laundry before the beautiful sound of someone throwing up graces his ears. He goes out to the living room to see Wyatt throwing up the little substance he had in his stomach. Dean sits on the air mattress next to the thirteen year old and rubs his back. When Wyatt is done he groans and flops back down and covers his head with a pillow. Dean pats Wyatt’s shoulder before going to the infirmary.

    Castiel is sitting in the chair next to the crib and is resting his arms on the rail so that he can see over the bars. Dean walks up next to Castiel and looks over the railing. Opal is breathing normally which means the humidifier that he put on earlier is working.

   “Is she going to be okay?” Castiel doesn’t take his eyes off the toddler.

 “I hope so. Considering the fact that her parents were hippies I doubt she has ever gotten any type of vaccines. On top of that in my experience young vampires have weird immune systems because it’s usually focused on being able to adjust to all blood types instead of fighting off sicknesses.” Dean looks over at Trip and remembers the first time the kid ever got sick, it took him two weeks to recover from a small head cold.

    Castiel nods. “Is there anything else we can do for her?”

  “Make sure she stays hydrated and her fever doesn’t spike.” Dean brushes Opals dark hair off her face.

     “I can keep an eye on her still if you need to do anything else.”

  Dean thanks Castiel and goes out to the greenhouses to talk to Sam. He’s really worried about Opal he just has a bad feeling about how she’s reacting to the flu. Sam’s a little better at natural remedies than Dean so maybe there’s something his dirt loving brother can think of that will help Opal.

~~~~~~~~

   Castiel can see the life slipping away from Opal. He can feel her getting slightly weaker by each second. For some reason he wants to heal her, he wants to make sure that the toddler is going to make to through even though he knows she isn’t going to. The angel can’t just heal her though it’s against protocol. He needs to get authorization before interfering in life and death. He doesn’t even know why he wants to make sure Opal survives he knows that things like this happen for a reason but the heaviness in his chest won’t go away.

     At around one thirty everyone wakes up and they all manage to eat some of the soup that Dean had made. While everyone is eating Castiel sneaks out of the house to look at The Grove. He feels like something is pushing on his shoulders as he thinks about Dean walking out here to add another tree. As he’s thinking about the tragedy that is going to sweep through Mary’s Second Chance he remembers that he needs to report back to Raphael.

   The angel does a quick look around to make sure everyone is still in the house before flying back to Heaven. He goes directly to Raphael’s office and knocks on the thick wooden door. Castiel walks in with his back straight and takes the seat across from Raphael.

    “How’s everything going?”

  “Good. I’m gaining Dean’s trust and I’m sure that I will be able to get him back to hunting soon.”

    “That’s great to hear. Sam trusts you as well?”

   “Well, not really but Dean has stood up for me to him. I am working on gaining Sam’s trust but it’s going to take some time.”

     Raphael nods and asks a few questions about what he has learned and writes everything down. At the end of the meeting Castiel stands up and walks to the door. Before leaving he turns to ask Raphael something.

     “Raphael there’s a young vampire at the orphanage who is dying. I was wondering if I could save her.”

  “Absolutely not. The vampire is meant to die. Use her death to help your mission of pushing Dean back into hunting.” Raphael doesn’t even bother looking at Castiel.

    “But-“

  Raphael looks up with lightening in his eyes, Castiel takes that as his que to shut up. Without another word he leaves Raphael’s office and goes back to Earth. Castiel walks in through the back door, there’s no one in the kitchen so he heads back to the infirmary where Dean is.

    “Where did you go?” Dean asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Just had to get some air.” Castiel shrugs and takes the seat next to Opal once again.

~~~~~~~~

     “DEAN!” Sam’s booming voice jolts the older Winchester awake.

   Dean jumps out of bed and runs down the stairs in his boxers, two seconds after he reaches the bottom Castiel is right behind him. They run to the infirmary where Sam is holding a shuddering Opal. Dean takes the toddler from his brother and places her on an examine table. Sam and Castiel rush the other three vampires from the infirmary.

    He starts an IV drip and takes her pulse which is much too fast. Opal’s fever is spiking and so he gets baby aspirin. For the next two hours Dean does everything he can think of to lower Opal’s fever and heart rate, in the end nothing he did was enough. Opal’s breathing slows until it comes to a stop altogether. He closes the toddler’s eyes and brushes her hair off her forehead. Dean takes a deep breath, it’s been a while since he’s had to tell a child that their sibling has died.

   Sam walks into the infirmary with a grim look, it’s as if his brother already knows what’s happened.

 “It’s not your fault Dean.”

    “Save it, Sam. I don’t want to hear it. I have to go tell two kids that their little sister is dead.”

   Sam follows behind Dean as they go to the kitchen where Sage, Phoenix and Castiel are. Dean takes a seat across from the brother and sister and Sam stands by the sink.

    “I’m so sorry but Opal didn’t make it. The flu was just too much for her, her body wasn’t strong enough to fight it off.” Dean feels numb as Sage starts crying.

    Sam steps in when Phoenix starts asking what happened and Dean doesn’t respond. Dean walks out the front door and sits on the front porch steps. He looks out across the empty desert and thinks about Opal laying on the examine table. He hears the front door open but doesn’t bother to look, he hopes it’s an assassin here to kill him.

    Castiel sits next to him on the steps. Dean prepares himself for the onslaught of meaningless reassurances about to come. When Castiel stays silent Dean looks over to the blue eyed man who is staring up at the stars. Dean follows Castiel’s gaze and takes in the clear sky. Castiel starts pointing out constellations and telling Dean the story behind each of them. After Castiel finishes talking about the little dipper silence falls between them again.

     “You would think that by now I would be able to deal with this better.”

  “You still care about every single child that comes here, that’s what they all need. Someone that cares.” Castiel looks away from the sky and at Dean.

     “They need someone that can keep them alive.” Dean huffs out a dry laugh.

  “You’ve saved so many children’s lives just by doing what you do every day. You can’t save them all, things happen for a reason.”

    Dean’s blood boils at the idiotic words that came out of Castiel’s mouth. “Do you really believe that shit?”

     “Yes I do.”

  “And what possible reason could there be for a two year old to be dead? What good does that do anyone? There’s two children in there that have already lost their whole family and now their little sister. Please tell me what fucking good that does anyone? The world isn’t all crossed t’s and dotted i’s it’s a hot serving of chaos.” Dean goes back inside and away from Castiel’s stupid beliefs.

    Before he makes it to the stairs Phoenix steps in front of him. The boy’s eyes are bloodshot and his cheeks are rosy from crying.

   “You did everything you could for her.” Phoenix states.

  “Phoenix I’m sorry-“

     Phoenix wraps his arms around Dean in a tight hug. “None of those other hunters cared about murdering our family and not only did you try to save Opal but you’re mourning her. You don’t have to apologize Dean.”

    Dean hugs Phoenix. He can’t believe that Phoenix is standing here hugging him instead of trying to punch him in the face. Phoenix pulls away and rubs his eyes.

    “Sam told us about The Grove and he said we can have a memorial.”

   “Of course. Where’s Sage?”

      “She wanted to see Opal one last time.” Phoenix sighs.

   “Let’s go pick out a sapling from the greenhouse.”

       Phoenix and Dean go to the greenhouse that has the saplings in it. Phoenix picks out the perfect one and holds it gently. They go back to the kitchen where Sage and Sam are now. All the flashlights that they own are on the table.

     “Sage wants to do the memorial tonight, we need to wake everyone up.” Sam tells Dean.

   Dean nods, Sam and he set off to wake everyone up. Once everyone is awake and gathered in the living room Sam tells them what happened. The children stop grumbling about being woken up at four in the morning and start pulling on sweatshirts and grabbing flashlights. Sam and Dean grab shovels as they head out to The Grove. Sage carries Opal who is wrapped in a blanket and Phoenix carries the sapling. Castiel is already waiting by The Grove with a shovel in hand.

   Sage cries silently while the three men dig. Trip stands next to Phoenix and holds his hand the entire time. Once the hole is deep enough Sage gently lowers her little sister into the ground and Phoenix plants the sapling.

    “Would anyone like to say anything?” Sam looks at the kids.

  Sage shakes her head and covers her mouth to keep in her sobs, Alaska pulls the oldest vampire into a hug. Trip steps forward.

     “No one at Mary’s Second Chance got to know Opal for long but we were lucky enough to meet her. Even though none of us know the pain that Sage and Phoenix are going through I know we will all be here for them. Opal may have been taken from the world too soon but her energy will continue to live on in all of us.” Trip steps back to stand next to Phoenix again.

    Lavender steps forward. “I would like to recite a poem if that’s okay with Opal’s siblings,” Phoenix nods as Sage continues to cry on Alaska’s shoulder, “Fragile like a baby bird, a life is but a star is the Arizona sky. Beneath the blanket of the deep blue we mourn those not past two. A stone of rainbows will brighten any day, Opal left a mark on all of our hearts.”

     “That was beautiful Lavender thank you.” Phoenix half smiles.

   Everyone walks back to the house but Dean stays behind for a little bit. He kneels next to Opal.

     “I’m sorry I failed you, Opal. It was my job to keep you safe and I failed. I’ve failed so many kids,” silent tears start racing down his cheeks, “maybe it’s time to leave the orphanage.” He sighs and wipes his face clean.

~~~~~~~~

   Phoenix jolts awake in a cold sweat. He just had another nightmare about the night his nest was attacked. His misses his parents and he misses Opal. He sniffles, trying to hold back tears. As quietly as he can he rolls of his bed and heads downstairs. Dean is awake working on chores. He finds Dean in the living room cleaning up the mess left over from the havoc of the flu. It takes Dean a couple of seconds to notice Phoenix standing in the doorway.

    “Hey bud, what’s up?” Dean lays a blanket over the back of the couch.

  Phoenix takes a breath and opens his mouth ready to tell Dean that he can’t sleep but instead all that comes out is a deep sob. He falls to his knees from the force of his crying. Dean picks him up and sits them both on the couch. Phoenix sobs into Dean chest and expects the man to tell him to man up, something his parents never would do. Dean surprises him but rubbing his back and petting his hair.

    “Y-y-you’re not m-mad that I’m c-crying-g?” Phoenix hiccups.

  “At first kids always think I’m the type of guy that hates crying or anything that could be considered weakness which used to be true. My dad raised me like that and for most of my young adult life I was that guy, I’m not like that anymore. Crying isn’t weakness and if anyone ever deserves to cry it’s the kids that come through here. Especially you and Sage.” Dean runs his hand through Phoenix’s dark hair.

    “You remind me of my parents.” Phoenix breaks down into another round of sobs.

  He cries until he falls asleep on Dean’s chest. When he wakes up he’s in a bed but it’s not his bed. Phoenix stretches and looks around the room he’s in. He thinks it’s Dean’s room but he’s not sure. He knows that he should get up and start his day but this bed is comfortable, warm and alone. Phoenix really doesn’t want to have to deal with everyone’s pity right now.

   Phoenix rolls onto his side and curls up into the softness around him. He has no idea how much time has passed when someone opens the door. He doesn’t bother to turn around, he doesn’t have the energy. The person sits on the edge of bed and he looks up at Dean who is holding a tray of food.

    “You can hide out in here as long as you want, Sage is in Sam’s room.” Dean places the tray of breakfast food on the nightstand.

   “Thanks,” Phoenix sits up and picks up the glass of orange juice, “is Sam your only sibling?”

  “Yes he is.”

“Who’s older?” He spreads Dean’s homemade strawberry preserves on his toast.

    “I am by four years.”

   “What would you do if you lost him?”

    Dean moves so that he’s sitting beside Phoenix at the top of the bed. “For about four years Sam and I actually didn’t talk at all. Sam was at college studying to be a lawyer and I was hunting.”

     “Why didn’t you talk to him?”

  “I was angry at him.”

     “For four years?” The young vampire raises an eyebrow as he butters his stuffed French toast.

   “It’s a long story. The reason I told you that was because for four years I lived without my brother and the only advice I can give you is that you’ll get used to it over time.”

    “I was hoping for some better advice.” He talks through his mouthful.

   “Sorry, Phoenix.”

      “It’s okay.”

   Dean stays while he eats breakfast then Phoenix asks to be alone so Dean promises to be back at lunch. Phoenix flops back down onto the bed and stares at the ceiling.

~~~~~~~~

 Since Castiel is an angel he doesn’t need to sleep, he can but that seems like an awful waste of time. Usually how he spends the night when everyone is sleeping is by going outside and thinking about his interactions throughout the day. He walks outside through the backdoor and is surprised to see Dean walking to The Grove.

    He follows the man walk over to the sorrow surrounded trees. The angel only makes it about two feet before Dean turns around.

   “Are you following me?” Dean glares at him.

  “No. I came out here and saw you and we just so happen to be walking in the same direction.”

     Dean raises an eyebrow in disbelief but waits for Castiel to catch up before walking towards the trees again. Neither of them say anything as they walk to Opals grave. Dean sits beside the grave and Castiel sits across from him.

   “Do you remember every child that has ever come here?”

    “Maybe not every single one. We’ve had a lot of kids that stayed a very short amount of time. I think I remember almost all of them though.” Dean stares at the grave.

      “Sorry that I upset you last night.” Castiel doesn’t understand why what he said upset Dean because he only said the truth there was nothing Dean could have done to prevent Opals death, but he knows he upset the human and if he wants to get Dean to start hunting again he needs to stay on his good side.

    “It’s fine, there’s no need to talk about.” The man shuts down the conversation.

       They got back to sitting in silence because Castiel doesn’t know what else to say and Dean doesn’t seem to care about the lack of talking. Castiel doesn’t know why Dean bothered to come out here at one in the morning just to sit by Opal’s grave in silence. Then again Castiel doesn’t understand a lot of things about the Winchester brothers.

    “Why are you out here?” Dean looks away from the grave and up at Castiel.

  “Couldn’t sleep.” The angel lies.

       Dean nods and looks out at the sea of trees surrounding them. “I remember every single one of them.”

    Dean’s eyes don’t focus on anything, they have a far off look in them like he’s thinking about somewhere else.

     “I know we should burn the bodies of them, the kids that don’t make it. You know in hunter fashion to make sure that nothing happens to them after death but who the fuck can go through with burning a child’s body? The thought of it makes me sick. Sam found some enchantment that’s supposed to protect each tree from being able to be disturbed by anything supernatural. I don’t know how well it works but I choose to think it works perfectly.”

    Castiel doesn’t say anything he doesn’t want to say anything that’s going to get Dean to stop talking. He wants to know as much as he can about how Dean thinks and feels.

    “I know that whenever a death happens I should focus on all of the children that have lived and are still doing great but I can’t. That doesn’t make me feel better. All I can think about is why didn’t that one child make it? What could I have done to change what happened? Just why?” Dean sighs.

    He thinks that he should reassure Dean and try to comfort him but he doesn’t know how to do that. Dean takes a deep breath through his nose and stands up.

    “I knew how hard this was going to be. I knew it was going to be harder than hunting. I knew exactly what I was getting into so I should stop bitching and moaning about life being hard.” Dean walks back to the house this time not waiting for Castiel.

    Castiel stands up and walks away from The Grove. As soon as he’s twenty feet away from the trees it feels like his body is lighter. No matter how many times he goes into The Grove he doesn’t get used to the emotions surrounding it. He hopes that eventually he will understand human emotions more if he continues to go into The Grove and tries to process the emotions around each tree. Perhaps he should touch another tree to see the story behind it. He doesn’t turn back because the last time he touched one of the trees he felt weird for hours. He’ll do it at another time. He has enough things to think about without thinking about the death of a child that caused Dean Winchester pain.  


	4. UFO's and Beanbags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I feel like this story is a lot less loved then my other one but I don't care because I love it so much. Anyway things are gonna get crazy soon. As always tell me what you think. Do you think I will bring in any other characters? Who is your favorite kid?   
> Love,   
> Mess

   Samandriel skids to a stop and almost rams into Michael. The oldest angel puts a hand on Samandriel’s shoulder to steady the nervous angel.

    “Um, sir. I asked Metatron for all the information Raphael had gathered about the decrease in bee population and he said that they had everything under control and pushed me off a cloud.” Samandriel casts his eyes down clearly ashamed that he didn’t accomplish what Michael asked of him.

    Michael narrows his eyes in thought, he picks a piece of cloud out of his brother’s hair and pats his shoulder. “Interesting. Tell Uriel and Anna to meet me in my office.”

      Samandriel nods and flies off in a flurry. He goes back to his office to wait for his charges. Raphael is up to something, he doesn’t know what yet but when he finds out what his little brother is trying to do he will crush him. Before he can beat Raphael back into his place Michael needs to know why he is beating him. Which is what Uriel and Anna are for, they are going to check on the bee population on Earth to see if there actually is any problem with it and if there is if Raphael is actually doing anything about it. He will not stand for a treason, Michael will not let a Caesar back stabbing happen to himself.

~~~~~~~~  

     Trip and Phoenix are sitting in the back of the pickup that Sam is driving. They went into town to do the house shopping with Sam. It’s been three complete days since Opal died and obviously Phoenix is still devastated but he is handling it much better than Sage is. Sam looks in the rearview mirror to see the two boys whispering to each other. The first day after Opal passed, Sage and Phoenix spent the day locked away from everyone. The second day Phoenix only wanted to be around Sage or Trip while Sage spent the day sitting next to Opal’s grave. Day number three Sage punched a hole in a wall and ran 6 miles before passing out and Phoenix cried until he threw up. Now they are on the fourth day. Phoenix will only talk to Sage, Trip, Dean and Sam everyone gets blank stares and Sage will only talk to Phoenix.

     Sam pulls up to the front of the house and parks the car. The boys jump out and quickly take bags from the bed of the truck. Dean, Wyatt and Billie come out to help get everything else. They carry everything into the kitchen and deposit all the bags on the counters and table. Once everything is in the house the children scatter and leave the two adults to put everything away.

     “Where’s Castiel?” Sam looks out the window to see if the ‘hunter’ is outside.

  “Bentley’s giving him a lesson on growing things in the greenhouse. They’re upstairs somewhere.” Dean is putting everything in the freezer and refrigerator.

      “That was Bentley’s idea?”

  His brother laughs loudly. “No. Honestly I don’t think that Bentley likes him very much. Castiel asked him.”

      Sam doesn’t reply. He is surprised though he didn’t think that Castiel cared that much about helping out in the greenhouses. The brothers just finish putting everything away when they hear a scream. They run into the living room to see Alaska cornered by Sage who is flashing her fangs.

    Dean yanks Sage away from Alaska as Sam puts himself between the two teen girls. Sage immediately closes her mouth but continues to glare at Alaska. Alaska stares back, she’s trying to hide her fear but her eyes a little too wide.

     “What the hell was that?” Dean raises his voice but only slightly.

   “I just told her we’ve all been through loss so we are all here for her.” Alaska shakes her head not knowing what she could have done to upset Sage.

    “You have no right to act like any of your losses are the same as mine! I not only watched my entire family get murdered but now my younger sister is dead! She was only two! Two! None of you can even remotely understand the pain we are going through!” The force that Sage is screaming with causes her to spit.

    The screaming draws everyone to the living room. Everyone gathers around all the entrances to the room. Phoenix pushes his way through everyone so that he is standing next to his sister who Dean hasn’t completely let go of yet.

     “Sage, she was just offering friendship. Sadness is not a contest we have to win against anyone here.” Phoenix tries to get his sister to look at him.

    “They act like they understand but they don’t!”

   “You’re not even giving them a chance to. You’re just secluding yourself off.”

     Sage sighs deeply and jerks forward to make Dean let go of her. She marches out the front door. Phoenix frowns but goes the opposite direction and goes upstairs. One at a time everyone awkwardly leaves the living room until it’s just Sam, Dean and Alaska.

    “Should I apologize?” Alaska looks back and forth between the brothers.

  “Give her some space for now.” Sam rubs Alaska’s shoulder.

     “You didn’t do anything wrong Alaska, Sage is just sensitive right now.” Dean reassures her.

   Alaska nods and heads upstairs. Sam and Dean share a look. They know there’s not much that they can do about what just happened. Sage has to work through her emotions right now and while Sam and Dean will offer whatever they can for now Sage has to realize she can’t get through this alone.

~~~~~~~~

     Trip is standing on a chair that he pulled over to the counter so that he can make a sandwich. Sage has been hanging out in the stalls with the horses all day and Phoenix locked himself in his room. He finishes making two turkey sandwiches and hops off the chair. Grabbing two juice boxes from the fridge he goes upstairs and places one plate and drink on the floor in front of Phoenix’s room he knocks but doesn’t wait for an answer. Then the young vampire goes out to the stables. Sage is hanging out in the top loft so Trip climbs the ladder and pushes the food towards her without saying a word.

    On his way back inside he notices Castiel hanging wet clothes on the clothesline. So he goes over to help the alien. Trip can’t reach the high clothesline without a step stool so he runs inside to get one then stands next to Castiel.

     “Do you like it here?” Trip starts the conversation, something he’s noticed Castiel isn’t very good at doing.

    “I do. I enjoy learning how to do knew things.”

  “Like laundry?” Trip watches Castiel out of the corner of his eye.

      “Yes.” Castiel nods.

  Trip purses his lips together. Every adult Trip has ever met knows how to do laundry. Dean said that no one can get through life without knowing how to properly clean clothes. Castiel is at least as old as Dean so there’s no way the man has never learned how to do laundry before.

    “Where did you grow up?” 

   “I grew up in Vermont.”

       “Did you like it there? I know it gets really cold because it’s close to Canada.” Trip helps Castiel hang up a sheet.

     “Yes, I liked it but I like warmer weather better.”

       Trip asks a couple more questions about Castiel’s life until they are finished hanging everything up. He finds out that Castiel lived in Vermont, he comes from a big family but they don’t get along very well and his dad left when he was young. Trip didn’t get the chance to ask about how he got into to hunting but he’s going to find out soon.

     Castiel goes back inside to do some more chores and Trip goes off to find Bentley. He finally finds the oldest boy about a mile away from the house meditating. Trip tiptoes over to Bentley.

      “Hey dork!” Trip shouts right next to the telepath’s ear.

   Bentley screams and flails sideways. “Why would you do that?” The blue eyed boy yells while cupping his ear.

      “Because I could,” he sits down next to the dork, “what were you doing?”

   “Trying to ground myself but now I’ll have to start over. Do you need something?”

       “I found some things out about Castiel and figured you would want to know them too.”

    “How’d you find anything out?” Bentley squints at Trip, partly because he’s suspicious and partly because of the sun.

      “I talked to him.”

  Bentley makes a face as if he never even thought of actually having a conversation with the alien. Trip isn’t surprised by that though because Bentley is like a miniature Dean and Dean keeps himself closed up like a clam. Any type of personal conversation usually sends Dean flying in the other direction. All the kids in the house know that if you want to talk about feelings the best person to go to is Sam.

     “I didn’t find out why he started hunting. He said that he grew up in Vermont and that he comes from a big family but he didn’t give me any more information about his family other than the fact that his father left when he was young.”

        “That’s it?”

     “He just learned how to do laundry.”

   “What?” Bentley reals back in shock, “He’s a grown man.”

     “I know.” He nods and stretches out his legs on the warm sand.

   Bentley shakes his head while he thinks about the information that Trip told him. The two are silent for about two minutes so Trip decides to leave Bentley and go find something more fun to do with his time rather than sit in silence.

     “Okay, bye.” Trip jumps up and starts the small trek back to the house.

~~~~~~~~

    The morning after Sage tried biting Alaska’s face off Wyatt slides down the railings of the staircases then jumps off the last one. He walks into the living room the same time that Lavender does. Lavender sits on the coffee table and Wyatt picks up Billie then sits down on the couch and places her on his lap. Dean had called a house meeting so everyone is making their way into the living room. Once everyone is sitting down, including Sam, Dean starts talking.

     “Where’s Castiel?” Trip asks with his hand raised.

   “He went into to town.”

        “Why doesn’t he have to be here?” Lavender questions.

    “Because he doesn’t.” Dean’s tone is clear that he doesn’t want any more questions about Castiel’s presence.

        “Is he not considered part of the house?” Alaska doesn’t care about his tone.

      “This is not to discuss Castiel’s placement in the house. No more questions. Now, I heard that some people in this house think that Castiel is an alien.” Dean’s tone and facial expression are equally unamused.

    Sam snorts and covers his mouth to try to keep his laughter in but fails miserably.

      “It’s not funny Sam.”

    “Yes it is.” Sam wipes at his eyes because he’s crying from how hard he’s laughing.

        The younger Winchester doubles over in laughter and snorts a couple times before trying to gather himself. Dean doesn’t start talking again until Sam stops laughing which takes a few minutes. Sam coughs a couple of times then takes a deep breath and slumps against the couch, he looks at Dean very seriously which is a little hard because he now has the hiccups.  

     “Castiel is not an alien and I don’t want any of you seriously thinking he is or he could be.”

        “How can you one hundred percent positively say there’s no way he could be an alien?” Sage questions with a harsh tone.

    “Because there’s no way he could be an alien. Aliens don’t exist.”

      Wyatt zones out as Dean starts his ever famous rant of aliens not being real. He starts counting the floorboards as Sage argues with Dean and calls him close-minded. He’s fairly certain that Dean and Sage could go back and forth all day but luckily Sam steps in and defuses the situation.

    “Alright by a show of hands who thinks that Castiel is a hunter?” Sam questions the herd in front of Dean and himself.

     No one raises their hand. Trip makes cricket noises until Dean sends a sharp looks his way. Dean runs a hand down his face then looks at each child before talking.

   “Why?” One simple word, that’s all Dean asks.

  “Because he doesn’t act like a hunter.” Bentley starts.

     “He just learned how to do laundry.” Trip adds.

   “He doesn’t have a journal.” Alaska’s tone is confused.

       “How would you know if he has a journal or not?” Dean puts on the face of disappointment, “you would only know that if you went through his stuff.”

     “Scope out the enemy, you taught us that.” Alaska defends herself.

  Wyatt holds in his sigh, honestly he doesn’t give a shit about Castiel. Does he trust him? No, but Wyatt doesn’t trust any hunter except Dean and Sam not even the one that saved him. Charlie is cool and all but he doesn’t trust her. Wyatt doesn’t think that Castiel is an alien and maybe he could be a hunter but he gets why everyone thinks he isn’t one because Castiel acts incredibly strange but so does Lavender and she’s not an alien so strange isn’t a qualifying factor.

    “Castiel is not an enemy. I want everyone in this house to start treating Castiel with the same respect they treat Sam and I with, with the same respect that you give every other hunter that comes through this house with.” Dean’s voice is stern.

   Sam looks at his brother out of the corner of his eye but doesn’t say anything. Wyatt knows that Sam doesn’t like Castiel but he’s not going to disagree with Dean in front of everyone.

     “Is that understood?” Dean questions but it’s not really a question.

  There’s a chorus of yes’s. Dean dismisses the house meeting. Everyone files out of the living room except for Wyatt, Billie and Lavender. The three stay in their spots.

     “Why do you trust Castiel so much?” Wyatt asks out of pure curiosity.

   “Because Garth does.”

        Wyatt shrugs accepting the answer. He stands up and settles Billie on his hip, but the five year old climbs to his shoulders.

      “Castiel’s a good man. I know it. We can trust him. He’ll need our help soon.” Lavender stares at Dean unblinkingly then jumps off the coffee table and skips out the front door.

        Wyatt nods and follows behind the strange girl, carrying Billie on his shoulders. The three walk in search of arrowheads, interesting stones and sun baked bones.

~~~~~~~~

       Dean does something he shouldn’t. It’s two in the afternoon and he goes up to his room and locks the door behind him. He kneels in front of his closet and moves a box and some shoes aside then lifts up the bottle of Jack Daniels. Dean cracks the bottle open and leans against the side of his bed as he takes a long swig. He shouldn’t be day drinking, he has a house to keep running and kids to take care of but he just needs a second. A second to stop thinking, stop over analyzing. The man just needs to become numb for a little bit. He closes his eyes and leans his head back as he takes a long deep swallow.

    Just as he is about to take another drink there’s a knock at the door, it startles him and gets his heart racing. Quickly he caps the bottle and stuffs it in his beside drawer. He unlocks his door and opens it to see Castiel standing in front of him.

   “Is there something you need Cas?” Dean wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “Cas?” The blue eyed man tilts his head slightly, confused by the nickname.

     “Yeah. Cas. You know a nickname. Short for Castiel.”

   “A nickname.” Cas says thoughtfully.

      “You never had a nickname?”

   “No.”

      “Well, you do now. But you needed something?” All Dean can think about is the bottle in his bedside table. He needs to move it.

     “Oh, yes. I was wondering if I could help you make dinner?”

   Dean puffs out a small laugh, he doesn’t know what he was expecting. Maybe Cas asking for help like Lavender said he would. He was not expecting the man to ask if he could help make dinner.

    “You don’t have to ask me to help make dinner. If you want to help then of course you can.”

  Castiel smiles. Dean thinks it’s the first smile he’s seen from the man.

     “Okay.” Cas nods and walks back down the hall.

   Dean closes his door again and locks it. He takes a deep breath and takes the bottle from the drawer. Slowly he opens the bottle and brings it up to his lips. Knowing that he shouldn’t drink anymore and needs to be a responsible adult he takes the longest chug yet.

~~~~~~~~

 Michael picks up the papers that Uriel placed on his desk. He leafs through it to see that the bee population is decreasing and it does seem that some angelic action has been taken. Michael throws the papers back down on his desk. Definitely not what he wanted to see, he was hoping it would be easy but nothing is ever easy.

    “Sir, I know these aren’t the results you were hoping for but we did find out something else.”

  “Well, go ahead.” Michael crosses his arms over his chest as he waits for his charge to tell him this other information.

      “It isn’t Castiel that has been researching the bees and influencing them, it’s been Metatron.”

    “Where’s Castiel then?”

  “We don’t know, sir.”

      “Find out.” Michael sits in his chair and picks the papers back up.

   Uriel and Anna nod before leaving. Michael has no idea what Raphael could be doing with Castiel. Sure Castiel has always been a great solider but he’s the youngest angel, what could Raphael possibly be using Castiel for? Castiel has gone into the field a handful of times but there are far more experienced angels. Things are not adding up.

~~~~~~~~

    “You’re quiet.” Phoenix sits next Wyatt on the front porch.

       “Not a lot to say.” Wyatt doesn’t look up from the bow he’s restringing.

    “I doubt that.” He looks out across the desert, there’s dark clouds far off in the distance.

       The shapeshifter shrugs. “Okay. Not a lot to say and not a lot of room to say anything.”

    The boys sit next to each other. Wyatt strings his bow then fires a couple of arrows before looking at Phoenix who has been watching the sky.

       “Why are you talking to me? I don’t have a problem with it or anything but you’ve only been talking to Trip.”

    “You’re different.”

        “Everyone here is different.”

   “I mean you’re different than them. Everyone is trying to smother Sage and me with nice words and just trying to act like it will all be better so soon. You have just stayed to the side.”

     “I don’t know what it’s like to lose a family. This is the only family I’ve ever had,” Wyatt turns his pale green eyes towards Phoenix, “I can’t even begin to fathom the pain you and Sage are going through. I’m not going to say empty words to either of you to try to make you feel better because sometimes things suck, big time. Sometimes the only thing you can be is sad and hurt because of those sucky things.”

    “You’re really smart for being only thirteen.” Phoenix wipes at his eyes which have started to slowly leak.

       Wyatt shrugs again. The shapeshifter gets up and picks up the arrows he shot. He takes his seat again next to Phoenix. The comfortable silence fills in between them again as they watch the storm slowly roll in. When it starts raining it starts off slow. Wyatt puts his bow and arrows away so that the water doesn’t damage them. The shapeshifter stands up and stretches then runs off the safety of the porch barefoot. Phoenix follows Wyatt’s lead and runs fearfully into the storm barefoot.

     Phoenix would admit to anyone that he’s afraid of the storm but Wyatt doesn’t seem fazed in the slightest so he puts his trust into the older boy. Wyatt spreads his arms out and tilts his head back as the rain falls on him. The young vampire watches Wyatt take in the storm. After a minute Wyatt looks up and smiles at Phoenix before grabbing his hand and spinning him around. He takes in a sharp breath of excitement when he sees lightening paint the sky.

    The rain quickly goes from light to total down poor. The boys don’t shy away from the storm. They run around and slip and fall and laugh. The two start pushing each other, anyone looking at them the outside would think the two would be dancing. The rain easily masks Phoenix’s tears, for the first time since Opal died he isn’t crying from utter sorrow instead he’s crying from happiness. This is the first time that he’s felt anything other than sadness since that night. A part of him feels guilty like he shouldn’t be having fun so soon but another part is ecstatic about being able to know that one day he’ll feel something other than sadness all the time.

    Phoenix’s foot slips out from underneath him and he almost falls hard on his butt but Wyatt grabs his hand pulls him up and spins him around again. This time the young vampire laughs, he actually laughs. A loud laugh that bubbled up from the pit of his stomach erupts out of his mouth. Phoenix throws his head back and keeps laughing. He laughs until his stomach aches and his head hurts.

  An alarmingly loud crash of thunder brings him back to reality. Phoenix takes a deep breath and looks at Wyatt who watched while he laughed. The thunder scared Phoenix, he thinks they should go inside so that if lightening gets any closer they will be in shelter. There’s not an ounce of fear in Wyatt’s eyes as he pulls Phoenix deeper into the storm and farther away from the house.

    Wyatt spins him around and dips him and actually dances with him instead of half dancing with him and half pushing him. Phoenix lets Wyatt lead, the pair waltz through the storm. Fear and adrenaline rush throughout Phoenix but Wyatt’s eyes are calm and steady. Wyatt may have not lost a family before but Phoenix can tell that he has seen some crazy terrible things in his young life, things far more scary than a thunder storm in the desert.

     They dance until the storm ends. It’s a good thing that Arizona storms don’t last long. The storm only raged on for about fifteen minutes before passing through. When it ends they stop, both boys are wet to the bone. They stare at each other, the only sound the rumbling thunder in the distance. Phoenix lunges forward and wraps his arms around the taller boy’s neck and hugs him with all his might. Wyatt hugs him back and lifts him slightly off the ground.  

~~~~~~~~  

      Dean is dragging the popcorn machine out of storage because Wyatt planned a movie night. After the thunderstorm passed Wyatt and Phoenix came inside both completely soaked because they stayed out in the storm. Something was different between the two Dean could tell just by looking at them. After the boys both dried off and got warm Wyatt came back downstairs and told Dean they would have a movie night tonight to lift everyone’s spirits.

    Wyatt and Phoenix spent the rest of the afternoon telling everyone else to meet in the living room at six o’clock after dinner. Then they moved the furniture around, brought bean bag chairs, pillows and blankets in so that it was more comfortable for everyone in the house. After the boys had the living room in perfect condition they created a list of snacks for Dean, because of course Dean was in charge of getting the snacks together. Then they got together the movie list set up.

    Castiel helped him get the snacks together and make dinner. Dean isn’t drunk from his earlier encounter with Jack but he’s not as sober as he should be, which he should be completely sober. He had spent basically the entirety of his twenties drunk or half-drunk so he’s become an expert at hiding when he’s not one hundred percent sober. He makes himself not think about it though, he’ll just get angry at himself for hitting the bottle because he can’t get over Opal dying.

    At precisely six o’clock everyone is gathered in the living room and the lights are all off. There’s popcorn, marshmallow cereal treats, chocolate chip cooks and some assorted candies. Dean plops on the couch he has no idea how he’s going to stay awake through three movies. Cas sits next to him and Billie stretches out next to Cas. Sam and Lavender curl up on the other couch. Sage takes the recliner by herself. Trip, Bentley and Alaska take bean bag chairs. Phoenix and Wyatt lay in a little nest they made with pillows and blankets.

     Wyatt puts the first movie on, an old black and white zombie movie.

~~~~~~~~

   Dean fell asleep halfway through the second movie. His head slumped over onto Castiel’s shoulder when the third movie started. The angel didn’t move him because he didn’t feel the need to. Once they third movie was over, a black and white movie about vampires and werewolves, everyone except Sam is asleep. Sam carries Trip, Billie and Lavender to their rooms but lets the rest sleep in the living room.

     “Night, Castiel.” Sam half waves at the angel before going to bed himself.

  Cas stands up and looks at Dean. He knows the man is struggling, everyday he’s struggling with Opal’s death. The angel knows he could pretty easily convince Dean to go back to hunting right now with the state that the ex-hunter is in. It doesn’t feel right, though. He can’t bring himself to do it.

     He thinks about picking up a blanket and laying it over the sleeping man. Instead he picks Dean up and he doesn’t know why but he carries the heartbroken man to his room. Cas lays Dean down on his bed and take a blanket from the chair in the corner and tucks him in. He closes Dean’s door and instead of going outside he goes to the room that has been deemed his.

    Castiel lays down on the bed at stares at the ceiling. He’s never been so conflicted about a mission before. Every mission he’s ever had before has always been straight forward and simple, but this one seems so much more complex. There’s so many innocent children involved, not even just the ones at the home right now but all the ones to come. Also, Raphael hasn’t told him much just the absolute basics of what he needs to do. Usually with missions he’s given he’s told everything, he’s told what he needs to do and exactly why. The only thing that Raphael told him is that Dean and Sam strayed from their destined paths and the only way to get back onto them is by hunting, he never explained what their path is. He needs to talk to Raphael tomorrow because he needs more information on what he’s doing.

~~~~~~~~

       Michael is checking on things in the garden when he notices Uriel walking towards him. He continues to walk through the Pomegranate Grove and check on the trees to make sure they are still blossoming. Uriel catches up to him but doesn’t say anything first.

       “Yes, Uriel.” He examines a pomegranate.

   “We can’t find Castiel. Neither Anna nor I could locate him. I even sent a few other angels out to try and find him but no one could. His location has been masked as well as his radio.”

       Michael plucks the fruit from the tree and squeezes it in his hand until it’s completely crushed and the deep red juice is running off his fingers. “How, interesting.” The words drip of his tongue like venom.  

     He drops the ruined fruit onto the ground and turns to look at his charge. “Angelic powers are masking him?”

       “Yes, sir.”

    “Obviously has to be someone strong if my best charge can’t find him.” Pure anger rushes throughout him.

      “Sir, I think the best way to approach this is-“

   “Where is Raphael?” Michael doesn’t need advice.

        “The library.”

   “Good. Change the guards of the armory. I want you and Anna protecting it. Get Samendriel to check on the garden and talk to Joshua to see if he has any concerns. I need to attend to something.”

      “Yes, sir… Sir, what is it that you are attending to?”

   “Don’t step out of line by asking stupid questions, Uriel.”

        Michael flies to Raphael’s office. He needs to do some investigating. He knows that his brother is going behind his back but he doesn’t know what his brother is doing behind his back. The last time Michael felt this uneasy all the time was when Lucifer and he were fighting.


	5. Bentley's Burdens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my darling readers! As always I hope you enjoy this chapter. I would love to hear what you guys think is going to happen. Let me know what you guys think. I love hearing from you guys and I love writing this story so much. I'm hoping to get a couple of shorts up soon so keep an eye out for those.   
> Love,   
> Mess

     Bentley wakes with tears streaming down his face and a scream trapped in his throat. He sits up and pushes all the blankets off of himself because he can’t breathe. The fifteen year old pulls his knees to his chest and tries to calm himself down but to no avail. His heartrate picks up and his breathing becomes uneven. Bentley stands up and starts pacing his room. The memories of the nightmare keep running through his mind but he tries pushing them away.

   The teen is a telepath and he hates it. He hates being able to know what people are thinking. He’s seen people’s pain and heartache. He’s felt the terrible things that others have had to go through. All day everyday Bentley pushes down his ability to read minds but he’s not always as strong as his power. Since sometimes his power is stronger that means he reads peoples mind by accident. The memories of other people’s sorrow comes back to haunt him some nights. When he was younger if he had a bad dream he would sneak into Dean or Sam’s bed, but he can’t do that now he’s too old.

    Not letting himself think about the nightmare he opens his door and starts heading to the kitchen to get a drink. He’s shaking the entire time, the dream still haunting him and causing him anxiety. He’s one floor away from the kitchen when he sees a tall dark figure slowly walking up the stairs towards him. Bentley screams. He screams so loud that his throat burns. The figure reaches out towards him. Bentley screams again and tries back step away from it. He trips and lands hard on his butt and starts shuffling backwards.

    “What’s happening?” Sam’s voice breaks through the screaming and he flips on a light.

  Bentley doesn’t open his eyes he can’t face whatever is standing in front of him. He knows what it is, it looked just like the figure in the dream and he knows what that was. The blue eyed boy covers his ears with his hands and keeps his eyes tightly closed, he pushes himself against the wall.

    He can hear people talking around him, but none of the actual words. His mind is racing and he feels like his heart is going to burst out of his chest. The only thing he can feel is himself gasping for air. After a minute of heavy gasping he throws up. Someone lifts him up from under his armpits. He scream again, his throat feels raw, he opens his eyes to see Sam. Slowly he takes his hands away from his ears.

   Sam tries settling him back on the ground but his legs are shaking too much so he can’t stand up. Sam carries him to the bathroom and places him on the toilet. Bentley knows that there’s something still going on in the hallway but he can barely focus on himself let alone his surroundings.

    “Can you talk to me?” Sam asks Bentley as he pulls the throw up covered shirt off the boy.

   “I- I don’t. It-it’s just a l-lot.” It takes all of his focus to talk.

      Sam nods as if he understands, and he might. Sam knows how Bentley feels about being telepathic and the nightmares he has. The man takes a paper cup from the cupboard and fills it up with water than hands it to Bentley. The cool water feels amazing on his burning throat. They sit in silence for a while until Bentley calms down enough to feel like he can function again.

   “I just want to go back to bed.” Bentley breathes slowly and stands up.

  “You don’t want to talk about what happened?” Sam is clearly concerned.

     “No.”

    He goes back to his room and lays down. Bentley stares at the ceiling and doesn’t put the blankets over him. He does want to sleep but he doesn’t want to close his eyes because he knows that when he closes his eyes he will see it again.

~~~~~~~~

     “I didn’t mean to scare him.” Cas looks devastated.

   Dean is slightly taken aback. He knows that Cas didn’t mean to scare Bentley. On top of that it’s always a little weird seeing a lot of emotion come off of Cas because he doesn’t show much emotion must of the time.

     “It’s okay. Bentley probably had a nightmare. His nightmare’s always really freak him out. He couldn’t see you in the dark and it just scared him you didn’t do anything.” Dean turns the light off and starts heading back to his room.

   If it was a different kid that just threw up from fear he would go to them. He knows Bentley though and if he’s surrounded by people after being scared it’s just going to make things worse not better. Sam can handle it though.

   “Is he going to be okay?” Cas walks next to him.

  “Yeah, he might be a little distant in the morning but he’ll be okay.”

~~~~~~~~

    Alaska stares at the empty seat across from her. Bentley should be sitting there but he isn’t which is not normal. Bentley is always the first kid up and he’s usually up shortly after Dean and Sam. The reason that Bentley gets up at a ridiculous time is because he wants to run the orphanage when Dean and Sam can’t anymore. Halfway through breakfast Bentley walks into the kitchen, his eyes are glazed over and he’s moving at the speed of a sloth. Half of his hair is sticking up in every direction and the other half is completely flattened against his head. The boy grabs an apple from the bowl then heads back upstairs.

  “Is he okay?” Phoenix hesitantly asks.

     “No.” Alaska stands up and scrapes the rest of her breakfast into the trash.

  She goes up to Bentley’s room and pushes the door open. The apple that he took is sitting on his bedside table, not a bite taken out of it. He is laying on his back on his bed staring at the ceiling. Bentley doesn’t even look to see who walked into his room. Alaska lays down next him and rests her head on his chest. He wraps his arm around her waist and holds onto her tightly then rests his chin on her head so his nose is buried in her blonde hair.

    Alaska doesn’t say anything, she doesn’t need to. Bentley’s chest hitches as he starts to silently cry. He moves his other arm so that he’s hugging her. After a couple minutes of crying he falls asleep. She doesn’t try to move but she does try to fall asleep unfortunately once she’s awake she can’t fall back asleep. Instead she thinks. About everything. She thinks about all the times she’s been in the same position she’s in right now, and how that doesn’t bother her. She thinks about all the times she might be in this position again, that thought doesn’t bother her either. She thinks about how one day Bentley is going to run Mary’s Second Chance and maybe she wants to run it with him. She thinks about all the pain that Bentley feels for other people.

    The first time that Alaska ever met Bentley, he hadn’t gotten control over his powers yet and fell to his knees with a scream because of all the anguish he saw Alaska go through. At first she was pissed because she thought that he was making fun of her. Then she found out why he had reacted like that and she didn’t know how to feel. Bentley was the first person that Alaska ever opened up to and honestly was her first real friend. If it wasn’t for Bentley she probably would have ran away from the orphanage and ended up dead somewhere in the desert. Alaska knows that a lot of people think that the two of them hate each other but they just don’t understand how they work, they aren’t super mushy friends that need to constantly prove their friendship to others also they don’t hang all over each other for no reason.

    Alaska knows that the reason Bentley is acting like this is because he had a bad dream last night. Bentley’s bad dreams aren’t like other people’s bad dreams, his bad dreams are memories of other people’s suffering. They’ve never talked about it but she’s pretty sure that everything Bentley knows about Lavender is what haunts him the most. The only people that know about Lavenders past are Lavender and Bentley. If Lavender knew all the pain Bentley felt for her and because of her she would hate herself. The reason she doesn’t know is because Bentley is the only one that can protect his mind from Lavender’s prodding and want to know how everyone feels all the time.

     Now that she’s thinking about it she can’t remember a time that Bentley cried for himself and not for someone else. There was one time, when they were both ten, that Bentley climbed a tree that was about a mile and a half away from the house. It was a fifty foot sycamore and he had climbed all the way to the top. Alaska hadn’t climbed the tree because she was too scared of falling but she was screaming at him the entire time to come down because she was afraid he was going to get hurt. He was about ten feet from the ground when he looked down at Alaska and smiled brightly at her. Bentley’s bright blue eyes caught the sun and sparkled right as his foot slipped and he crashed back down to the earth. He feel right onto his arm and broke it in three separate places. The boy barely yelped and his eyes didn’t well up at all let alone did he cry. All Bentley did was look down at bent arm and said “That sucks.” A week later a two year old werewolf that had been abused in the foster system came through the orphanage, Bentley locked himself in his room and sobbed for two hours.

  Bentley wakes up a half hour later. He sighs and stretches but doesn’t let go of Alaska.

    “Sorry, about all of that.”

   “You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

      Bentley breathes heavily though his nose. She doesn’t say anything in return. They’ve argued about this same thing too many times and she doesn’t feel like getting into it again. Instead she just continues to lay in silence and she’ll lay next to him until he feels okay enough to get out of bed. No matter how long it takes.

~~~~~~~~

    Michael completely ransacked Raphael’s office and he found nothing. Nothing that let him know what Raphael is up to. He paces back and forth in his office, trying to think of anything that would lead him Raphael’s plan. He tries to control his anger but he might have caused one small earthquake. The eldest angel punches the marble wall of his office then falls backwards onto his chair.

   “Idiot!” He stands up so quickly that his chair topples over.

 He can’t believe that he didn’t think of it before. All the prophecies that were ever created are kept in Heaven’s library, except for a select few that are locked away in a room that only Michael and Raphael have access to. Other than that the only other place that prophecies are kept are in a secret location that Michael moved certain ones too. He only moved a couple, ones that he didn’t trust in any angel’s hands not even the other Arch’s.

    Michael flies to Earth to go to his secret location. His hope is that one of the prophecies might give him a clue as to what his brother is up to. He finds nothing. Nothing at all that helps him. He slams the door of the crypt shut. Instead of going directly back to Heaven he decides to stop by the Grand Canyon and admire his work. Michael never thought that there would be a time that he didn’t trust Raphael. Unfortunately life is full of terrible surprises.

~~~~~~~~  

    “What happened to him?” Sage asks Trip.

  Trip, Phoenix and she are watering the plants in the second greenhouse. Usually Alaska and Bentley work with Sam in the greenhouses but they haven’t been seen today, Dean said they were excused from chores. Sage has no problem working in the greenhouses, she actually really likes it but she’s still curious as to what happened to Bentley. If she’s being honest she didn’t think the boy was capable of looking so blank because he’s always so loud and full of energy.

    “I don’t know,” Trip shrugs as he waters an orange tree, “they never talk about it. Sometimes Bentley just gets really… sad. Then he hides for a day. The next day he’s back to normal and acts like nothing happened.”

   “He doesn’t talk about it?” Phoenix questions.

       “Nope. Never.”

   “Aren’t you curious?” Sage refills her watering can.

        “Yeah but I can’t make him talk about anything. Don’t ask him either, it’s not worth it.” Trip puts down his watering can and wipes the sweat from his brow.

    “Why is it not worth it?” Her brother stops pulling weeds out of the plants to look at Trip.

         “He gets really mad. It’s one of the only things he ever gets mad about and when Bentley is mad he’s really scary.”

     “He can’t be that scary.” Sage scoffs.

           “Scarier than you.” Trip looks her in the eyes as he says it to show that he’s serious.

   When they are done in the greenhouses the trio splits up. Phoenix says something about learning archery, Trip says his cats missed out on their morning pets and now they need extra and Sage goes inside. She goes up the stairs with the intent to go to her room and read but her legs lead her in the direction of Bentley’s room which is a floor above hers. His door is closed which is disappointing but doesn’t make her give up. She slowly creeps closer to the door until her ear is almost pressed against the door.

    “I should probably get up, haven’t eaten anything today.” Bentley sounds weak.

   “I can get you something.” Alaska responds.

      “You’ve done too much already.”

   “Shut the hell up.”

       Silence falls between the two and after about a minute she hears moving around. She hurries away but instead of going to her room she goes to the living room. Sage flops onto the couch and opens her book, she starts reading but doesn’t completely focus on it. Almost five minutes later Alaska and Bentley come down the stairs. The vampire doesn’t look up from her book but she watches them out of the corner of her eye. The pair go to the kitchen and Alaska starts making a sandwich.

      Bentley looks more than sad he looks devastated. She has no idea what could have caused Bentley to be that upset because nothing has happened in a day that could have caused that. Really though, she doesn’t know any of the kids in the house that much. She doesn’t know why she’s so curious but she is. Bentley’s life isn’t any of her business and she knows that but she wants to know what could break a kid that’s seen everything.

~~~~~~~~

     Castiel goes to Raphael’s office for his check in. His secretary informs him that Raphael isn’t in his office but went to the library. When he gets to the library the librarian tells him that Raphael just left and didn’t say where he was going. With a sigh he heads for the infirmary, there’s a chance Raphael is there because he’s the one in charge of it. Instead of finding Raphael he runs into Michael.

    “Castiel.” Michael rests his hand on Castiel’s shoulder.

  “Hello, sir.”

     “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

   “Yes. I’ve been in the field on a mission that Raphael sent me on.”

        “I know. What mission was that again?”

    “Castiel! Just the angel I was looking for.” Raphael cuts through anything Cas was about to say.

        “Raphael. What have you been up to on this fine day?” Michael smiles but it’s not friendly.

     “Getting all my duties done, you should try it sometime.” Raphael’s laugh is hollow.

         Castiel looks between his two older brothers not entirely sure what’s happening. The Arch’s stare each other down for a minute before Raphael places his hand on Castiel’s back and leads him to his office. Once they are behind closed doors Cas asks the question he wanted ask five minutes ago.

     “Are you and Michael fighting?”

   “No.” Raphael answers quickly.

       He has no reason to not believe his brother, but he doesn’t believe him. Raphael sits behind his desk and motions for Castiel to take a seat.

   “Alright. What’s your update?”

       “Not much has changed. Sam doesn’t trust me so I’ve been working on Dean mostly.”

    Raphael nods as he writes down what Castiel is saying. He explains a few more minor details. Cas tells him that some of the children have taken a liking to him, he doesn’t bother to mention that really it’s only Lavender that likes him.

      The meeting doesn’t last long and after fifteen minutes Raphael tells Castiel he can leave.

   “One second, Castiel.” Raphael stops him as he’s about to open the door.

       “Yes?”

    “Don’t talk to Michael about the mission.”

        “Why? Doesn’t he know about it?”

    “He does but the topic just causes him stress. We don’t need to cause him any unneeded stress.”

       “Right,” Castiel nods and opens the door, “okay.”

    Castiel doesn’t believe anything that just came out of Raphael’s mouth so he hides out near his office. He doesn’t know what he’s expecting to see happen but that’s why he’s hiding. The young angel isn’t sure how long he’s been hiding when Metatron shows up and walks into Raphael’s office. He wants to know what the two are talking about but Raphael’s office is sound proof so getting any closer would be pointless. Cas stands up and stretches ready to leave when Raphael and Metatron exit the office. Slowly he gets closer while staying hidden.

      “Just stay patient Metatron. Soon Michael will be gone and we can rule freely.”

   Castiel’s eyes widen and he quickly leaves his hiding spot. He leaves Heaven quickly and does everything he can to not run into Michael. His mind is reeling, he has no idea what to do with the information he just heard. Cas needs to think about so much. When he gets back to the orphanage he says hello to Dean and Sam and goes directly up to his room. Usually when Castiel is conflicted over something he goes to one of his siblings for advice but that’s not an option in this situation. What Castiel heard could start a war and that’s the last thing he wants to happen. With a long sigh he lays backwards onto his bed and stares at the white ceiling.

~~~~~~~~

    Bentley is trying to center himself but it’s not working very well. He knows that a lot of people think meditating is stupid, those people don’t understand it. Bentley meditates to focus his mind. If he didn’t mediate than his powers would control him instead of him controlling his powers. He’s not trying to reach a higher self when he meditates, he’s just trying to refocus himself on just his thoughts and not everyone else’s.

    He’s sitting on top of the roof and his mind won’t stop racing. With a deep sigh he opens his eyes. Bentley stares at the clear blue sky and tries not to wallow in self-pity. He feels awful that he hasn’t done any chores today but at the same time his brain is so fuzzy he can hardly think.

    “Hey psycho!”

   Bentley looks down to see Wyatt staring look up at him.

      “Get down here!”

   Carefully he makes his way back into the house through the window he came out of. No one says anything to him as he walks outside. Wyatt is waiting for him on the porch with a backpack on.

     “What?”

   “Come on.” Wyatt starts walking, he doesn’t look back to see if Bentley is following him.

      Bentley follows him. They walk into the desert in silence. After fifteen minutes of walking Bentley speaks up.

     “Where the hell are we going?”

   Wyatt shrugs. “Nowhere. Just walking.”

      They walk until they are at a tall sycamore. The boys stop and look at the old tree. Bentley hasn’t been to this tree since h feel from it and broke his arm. Wyatt takes off his backpack and climbs up to the first branch. Bentley sits at the base of the tree and leans back against the trunk.

     “Do you ever hate being a shapeshifter?” Bentley breaks the silence.

   “I don’t shift.” Wyatt’s tone is clipped.

        Bentley knows that Wyatt doesn’t really like talking about being a shapeshifter just like he doesn’t like talking about being a telepath. That’s why Wyatt is the best person to talk to about this.

      “I know but do you ever wish that you weren’t a shapeshifter?”

    Wyatt’s quiet for a long time. Bentley looks up to see the thirteen laying down on the branch.

        “If I wasn’t a shapeshifter than I wouldn’t be here. My life would be completely different. I like my life, despite the shit I’ve gone through. Wishing for something that can’t happen and even if it did happen wouldn’t change anything is pointless. It’s like wishing a hurricane doesn’t hit after it already ripped your house apart. It’s meaningless.”

      “Have you ever thought about being a poet?”

   Wyatt laughs despite Bentley being serious. Silence falls between the two again. Bentley thinks about what Wyatt said, that even though he has gone through shit he still likes his life. He doesn’t know what that shit was. The shapeshifter is very secretive about his past. That’s probably why he and Lavender get along so well, neither of them talk about anything before Mary’s.

     “What kind of shit?”

    “You’ve finally totally lost it. At such a young age, what a shame. I’m sure Dean will take care of you.”

        “I mean what kind of shit did you go through?” Bentley watches Wyatt out of the corner of his eye, he doesn’t know how the boy is going to respond.

     Wyatt jumps down from the branch and stands in front of Bentley. The thirteen year old is always pretty serious but his eyes hold a different kind of seriousness to them now, it’s almost the same look that old hunters have. The kind of look that says ‘you can’t even imagine the lifetime of horrors I’ve witnessed’.

     “I know the reason you’re acting weird. You don’t need any more nightmare fuel. You shouldn’t ask questions that you don’t actually want to know the answers to.”

        “I do want to know. You don’t have to-“

    “Shut up.” Wyatt cuts him off.

       “But-“

    “Shut it. Bentley, I appreciate that you care but I’m okay. Can’t you see what people think about anyway?”

        “I don’t ever try to read anyone’s mind because it’s rude and intrusive. Also some people’s minds are harder to read than others and if you don’t ever think about your past I wouldn’t have a way to read your mind and see your past. Do you think about your past?”

      “Hardly.” Wyatt opens his mouth like he’s going to say more but he quickly closes it.

        Bentley nods and understands that Wyatt isn’t going to talk about his past at least not today.

    “Are you okay?” Wyatt sits next to Bentley.

        “I’ll be fine.”

    “So you’re not okay.”

        “Not right now.”

    Wyatt nods. The thing about Wyatt is that he doesn’t ask people questions but is still incredibly supportive. Wyatt is easy to open up to because he’s good at listening and giving advice.

     “I wish I wasn’t a telepath.”

   “I know.”

       “I know I shouldn’t but I do. I hate being a telepath. I hate everything about it and it takes so much energy to constantly push against it.”

    “I can’t imagine.”

        Bentley half smiles and looks up at the branches that he once fell from. Wyatt offers a different kind of support than Alaska but they’re both amazing.

~~~~~~~~

    Dean finishes up double checking that the house is locked up and walks back to the stairs. Sam already went up to get a shower so he’s by himself, or so he thought but he sees Bentley sitting in the living room watching TV.

    “You’re supposed to be in bed.” Dean sits next to the kid.

   “I’m not tired.” Bentley shrugs and doesn’t look away from the screen.

       “Really?”

    “Yup.”

       “Bentley, I get it. It’s hard to want to go to sleep after having a nightmare.” Dean keeps his eyes on Bentley who is keeping his eyes on the television.

     “Has nothing to do with last night.” Bentley picks at a loose thread on his shorts.

         “Bentley.”

      “It doesn’t. I’m just not tired. You don’t need to read into everything.”

        Dean doesn’t respond. It’s moments like this that having a normal childhood would come in handy. He doesn’t know what to do with moody teens. He was personally never a moody teen, he couldn’t be it was either deal with shit and take care of Sam or mouth off to his dad and get hit. Sam was kind of a moody teen but Sam always took it out more on John than Dean. He knows that he’s not reading into anything. Bentley doesn’t want to sleep because he doesn’t want to have another nightmare.

      “Just because you’re fifteen doesn’t mean you have to suddenly stop needing people.”

   “Yeah, I know.” Bentley scoffs as if what dean just said was idiotic.

       “Okay.” Dean grabs the remote and turns the television off.

    “Hey!” Bentley turns to dean and glares at him.

        “I know that you’re upset and scared but that’s not an excuse to be rude to me. I’m always going to be here for you and offer anything I can to make you feel better and feel safe. With that being said if you’re going to continue to be disrespectful than I’m going to bed.” He stands up.

     Bentley mumbles something under his breath. Dean turns around and crosses his hands over his chest.

       “Excuse me?”

    Bentley sighs heavily and stares at his hands. “I don’t want to sleep by myself but I’m too old to sleep in your bed.”

      “Says who? I never said that.”

    “I’m fifteen.”

       “Yes, I remember. What does that have to do with this conversation?”

     Bentley looks up from his lap and at Dean. The boy is clearly confused by Dean. Other people might agree with Bentley and say that at a certain age kids shouldn’t sleep in parents or parental figures beds but Dean doesn’t give a fuck about those people. Bentley is scared and if sleeping in Dean’s bed makes him less scared why would he not allow such a simple thing.

    “Get ready for bed and sleep in whatever bed you want.”

   Dean goes up to his room and changes into his own pajamas. He’s in his bathroom brushing his teeth when he hears his door open. He walks into his room where Bentley is already in bed half asleep. Dean turns the light off and brushes Bentley’s hair off his forehead before getting in bed.  

  

      

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is wondering all of the children pasts are going to be explained more and looked into more it is just going to take some time because there's so many of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so if you read New Dads then you know I said that the angel's wouldn't be in this story well I lied because when I actually sat down and started planning the story they just so happened to work themselves into the story. I'm not gonna lie I have a real obsession with the angel's especially Michael I love him so much. Anyway I'm really excited about this story and what's going to happen. There's a hella lot of original characters though so I hope you like them all. Tell me what you guys think I love hearing from you guys and talking to you all!  
> Love again,  
> Mess


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